


Warrior's Descendants

by AuspiciousAutumn



Category: H.O.T. (Band)
Genre: Abduction, Gen, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Mystery, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:40:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuspiciousAutumn/pseuds/AuspiciousAutumn
Summary: H.O.T are so close to becoming an active group again, but not everyone is keen with them doing it on their own terms.
Kudos: 3





	1. We Hate All Kinds of Violence

"H.O.T Forever!"

Five Korean men clinked their glasses together, then drank the contents in one shot. They slammed their shot glasses down and smiled brightly at each other.

"We're finally doing this," Tony remarked, close to tears.

  
Woohyuk patted his arm. "We've endured so much, haven't we?"

Everyone nodded, soaking in the joyous occasion. After 25 years, H.O.T was finally going to promote as a group outside of SM Entertainment. They had finished recording the title song for their sixth album earlier that day. Kangta had made a post announcing it on their official Instagram page a few hours ago, and the members were delighted by how quickly news outlets had picked it up. Every time they refreshed it, the post gained another thousand likes and hundreds of comments.

Tony invited everyone to his house for dinner, and everyone had eagerly agreed to go. They ordered pizza, picked up a cake, and grabbed as much alcohol they could carry to his place. Three hours later, Tony's kitchen and dining area were a mess. However, nobody was bothered by it.

"You know, we're going to regret eating so much when we've all got to go back on a diet for promotions," Heejun laughed.

Jaewon put his head on his leader's shoulder. "I don't need to go on a diet."

Heejun threw his arm around the maknae. "That's because you workout so much. You know you're going to have to stop boxing for a while, right? You can't go on stage with a black eye." Jaewon just giggled in response.

"He's too good to get hurt," Kangta patted Jaewon's knee and smiled. "I missed this."

Tony nodded. "I know. When we reunited, I thought that was the best thing that could have happened to me. But then we did a concert, then another. And now, we're about release a new album."

"It's a dream come true," Woohyuk agreed.

Kangta looked around owlishly, "Where are your dogs? I just noticed that they weren't here."

Tony yawned. "Jaeduk took them on a play date."

Heejun smirked lazily, knowing Jaeduk too well by now. "Where did he go?"

"He said they were going to visit YG."

Jaewon smiled, still being held by Heejun. "Translation: Jaeduk took them to the recording studio just to bug Jiwon and everyone else along the way."

They all cracked up at this, knowing how much chaos tends to come when the Tony-Jaeduk household are around.

Someone's phone started vibrating, which caused everyone to stupidly move around to try to find where they put their phones.

"Mine," Heejun slurred, as he clumsily tried to open it. Tony leaned over to look at it. "Aw! She misses you!"

"Shut up," Heejun kicked Tony, as he replied to his wife. "I bet Jaeduk is pining for you right now."

The other man snorted. "More like he's plotting with Jiwon and Jaijin to make their album better than ours."

Woohyuk looked over at Tony. "Are they still holding onto that rivalry? We're all friends, and it wasn't like either of us started it anyway."

Tony poured Kangta and himself another drink. "That's just how he is. People think he's cute, but they don't know how much he loves starting fights and stirring people up."

"Except you?" Jaewon smirked, taking the bottle of soju.

Tony reached over to smack him, but Woohyuk grabbed the back of his sweater. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Heejun pushed Jaewon off of him. "It's been fun, but I've got to get going. Apparently my daughter has some ideas for the choreography of our title track she wants to run by me before she goes to bed."

Everyone went "aww!" and demanded that he send a video of it to them. After he promised to do so, their leader said his goodbyes and left.

The rest of the guys chatted for a bit, then Woohyuk called it a night too.

Jaewon and Kangta volunteered to clean up the place for their host. They were making progress until Kangta realized Jaewon had thrown the pizza boxes in the container for glass recycling. This caused them crack up and jokingly put more trash in the wrong places. Tony stopped them before they tried to mix their empty soju bottles with the food waste.

"I'm home!" Jaeduk called as the sound of the front door slammed shut.

Jaewon and Kangta abandoned their attempts at cleaning in favor of playing with the dogs.

Jaeduk stepped around them and smiled at Tony. "Want me to make some coffee?"

Tony gave him an exhausted look. "Please."

"How much did you guys drink?" The Sechskies member asked after he had taken off his face mask.

"I think we cleaned out the 7-11 down the street," Tony replied, hugging the other man. "How bad is it outside?"

Jaeduk pulled away. "Not as bad as it was earlier. I looked at the air quality before I left the studio, and it had gone down to 90."

Tony sighed. "Still bad though."

A yell caused them to both to turn to see both of their dogs were licking Jaewon's face on the couch, while Kangta was on the ground laughing.

"Maybe you should just dunk them in the shower?" Jaeduk suggested. Tony shook his head in response.

An hour later, the two youngest members of H.O.T were steady enough to leave on their own. Tony refused to let Jaewon leave until he promised to text him when he got back home. Originally they were going to call their managers, but then decided not to bother them. They both ordered taxis and said their goodbyes.

Jaewon could stop smiling. Things seemed to be looking up for him, and he was excited about this new chapter for H.O.T. No more lawsuits, no more unsympathetic SM executives telling him he didn't matter, and no more uncertainty on whether or not H.O.T would get to make music together again.

As the taxi drove to his apartment, Jaewon looked out the window thinking about the future.

"We're here."

Jaewon shook himself from his stupor and thanked the driver, before getting out. He rated the driver five stars on the KakaoTaxi app before closing it, and going inside his building.

He hummed to himself all the way to his door. When he got inside, the doorway light turned on and he took off his shoes. He went to the bathroom and washed his face, then he took his face mask and jacket, and threw them on a chair. Suddenly, he felt like he had forgotten to do something. Oh, yeah. He was supposed to text Tony.

He was about to grab his phone from his jacket, but then stopped. He wasn't alone. Suddenly, something was slammed across his mouth and nose. Jaewon coughed, realizing that he shouldn't be breathing in whatever was in front of his face, and fought his way free. He turned to see a man he didn't recognize holding a handkerchief.

"Who are you?" Jaewon coughed, feeling his knees buckle.

"Nobody. Just be a good boy and go to sleep."

Jaewon coughed again as the man approached him. The tall idol punched the man's stomach, causing him to fall backward. Jaewon scrambled to get his jacket, and clumsily ran to his door. His plan was to make it at least out to the elevator, where there was a CCTV camera. At this time of night, most of his neighbors were probably still out drinking or meeting with friends.

He had just gotten to his shoes when the man had gotten back to his feet and tackled him into the door. Jaewon felt his head and right hand hit the door as he fell. The man turned him over, and Jaewon spat at him - causing the man to recoil. The tall idol kicked the man's groin, which caused him to go down.

Jaewon threw open the door and landed one more kick on his aggressor, before running down the hallway clutching his wrist. He was about to round the corner when a blur came in front of his vision and he blacked out.

A man in dark clothing holding a baseball bat appeared around the corner. "And here I thought you were going to be easy."

He stepped over the bleeding idol and waved to the man coming out of the idol's apartment. "Don't worry, I got him."

"Good, that bastard wasn't as obedient as I had been hoping," the other man wheezed, clutching his stomach.

"Do we have to do a lot of clean up?"

"Nope, just minor scrubbing and item placement."

"Okay, I'll let the other guys know."

Both men moved to the fallen idol. The first man kicked his side.

"One down, four to go."


	2. Wolf & Sheep

Woohyuk was in the middle of drinking a cup of coffee when his phone chirped. He picked it up and found a message from Tony on H.O.T's group chat.

Tony: Has anyone heard from Jaewon?? He was supposed to text me when he got home, but he didn't and hasn't been answering my calls.

Heejun: Nope. I'll try to call him.

Woohyuk frowned and sent a separate text to Jaewon.

  
Woohyuk: Text Tony. He's worried about you.

The vice leader went back to the group chat to see Kangta couldn't get a hold of Jaewon either. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't be worried. But Jaewon had always been quick to pick up the phone when a call or text came. Unlike Woohyuk and the rest of the members, Jaewon didn't have many friends and was always excited when someone reached out to him. Perhaps he was still asleep?

Woohyuk: Maybe he's sleeping off his hangover?

Kangta: You know he's got the best alcohol tolerance out of all of us. Also, I can assure you that he was mostly sober when I left him.

Heejun: Maybe Kangta's right and he's sleeping in? Or maybe he forgot to charge his phone last night?

Tony: I've been trying to call him since 8am, and his phone isn't going straight to voicemail, it's just ringing.

Woohyuk looked at the time. It was about noon. While Woohyuk certainly had slept in more than usual today, this was very strange for Jaewon.

Woohyuk: How about we go by his place and see if he's there? Tony, you know his door code, right?

Tony: Yeah, I know it.

Heejun: Have you told his manager yet?

Tony: Yeah, he told me Jaewon didn't have any schedules for the day, so he should be home.

Kangta: If worse comes to worst, we could also ask his apartment manager to look at CCTV.

Tony: Alright, I'll be there in about an hour. If you're coming, let me know so I can let you in.

With that decided, Woohyuk went to get ready and made sure his phone was fully charged before leaving. He arrived at Jaewon's apartment building around one o'clock, and was let in by a frazzled Tony.

"He's not here!" Tony exclaimed.

As Woohyuk took off his shoes, he noticed a few other pairs of shoes were in the entryway. One pair was Tony's (he knew because they had orthopedic inserts), one pair was Kangta's favorite sneakers, and the last pair were the worn tennis shoes Jaewon had worn yesterday.

Now, if you know Woohyuk, you'll know he loves shoes. So when he saw Jaewon's shoes were still there, he picked them up to examine them. They were still faded, smelly, and had a rip across the top from when Jaewon accidentally dropped a knife on them while cutting a box down a few years ago. But he didn't see anything that would suggest he had run through a park or anything. So, he moved to the shelf where Jaewon kept the rest of his shoes, and found that they were all accounted for as well.

"He took a cab home, Sherlock."

Woohyuk looked up to see Kangta leaning against a wall. "All the way home?"

The vocalist nodded. "Yup, it was supposed to pull up right in front of the entrance."

Woohyuk stood up. "Is it possible that he went on an errand afterwards?"

"Without his shoes?" Tony questioned.

Woohyuk shrugged. "Did he leave a note or anything?"

Kangta shook his head. "It looks like he just took off his shoes, then vanished."

Woohyuk pulled out his phone. "I'm going to try calling him again. Have either of you done that since you got here?"

"We've just been turning his apartment over for a clue since we got here," Tony replied.

Woohyuk heard a ringing, but felt dread when he heard the sound down the hall. As the three men walked to Jaewon's dining area, the sound got louder. Woohyuk realized that the sound was coming from a jacket that was sitting on a chair. He picked it up and realized that it was the same jacket Jaewon had worn last night. Sure enough, his phone was in there.

"Shit," Kangta muttered, as Tony pulled out his own phone and left the room. "That's it, I'm calling the cops."

Woohyuk ended the call and swiped to open the phone. "You wouldn't happen to know his password, would you?"

Kangta took the phone from him and immediately got in, with a bittersweet smile on his face. "It's our debut date."

Woohyuk chuckled. "Thank goodness he's been using that password for years."

Kangta started going through his apps. The last people who sent him messages on Kakao were them, his boxing coach, and his manager. No updates on his Instagram either. No weird Naver or Google searches either.

"Any other ideas?" Kangta asked, biting his fingernail. Woohyuk smacked his friend's hand away to get him to stop, and grabbed the phone. There were no events on his calendar, and nothing about a schedule in his email.

Wait.

"Kangta, you said you and Jaewon got a cab right?" Woohyuk turned to Kangta, who nodded. "Yeah, felt like one in the morning was too late to bother our managers."

Woohyuk nodded, while thinking. "Did you hail a cab or did you call for one?"

"We both called for one."

Woohyuk opened the KakaoTaxi app and looked for the last trip Jaewon had made. As Kangta said, the route was from Tony's house to Jaewon's.

Woohyuk looked at Kangta. "He made it here at least."

"The cops said we need to wait longer until we can file a missing person report," Tony fumed as he came back in the room. "Did you guys find anything on his phone?"

Woohyuk handed the device to Tony. "He made it here."

Tony sighed. "I think our next step is to talk to his apartment manager."

Unfortunately, Kangta had to leave for a schedule, so Tony and Woohyuk were on their own. They knocked on the apartment manager's office door on the first floor and were led in by an elderly lady.

"Hello, boys. What can I do for you?" she said, sitting down in her office chair. It was a cramped room filled with papers, a computer, and a monitor that displayed multiple CCTV feeds.

Tony shook hands with her. "Hi, I'm a friend of Lee Jaewon, he lives here."

"Oh, I know him. He's that tall cutie who's always rushing around on his phone."

Woohyuk nodded. "Yes, have you seen him this morning? We haven't been able to get a hold of him and we're worried about him. We know he returned to his apartment last night because we found his shoes, jacket, and phone in there. However, he seems to be missing and the police can't help until he's missing for a while."

"Oh, no," the woman gasped.

Tony leaned forward. "We were hoping that you could look at the CCTV footage from last night and try to see if he left."

The older woman nodded. "When would he have arrived?"

"Around 1:30 this morning."

She nodded, while writing the time down. "Okay, I'll look for him. I'm going to have to ask you to leave for a few minutes while I go through the footage. I need to protect the privacy of my other tenants, after all."

Woohyuk and Tony bowed themselves out and waited in front of the building. The younger man pulled his phone out as they sat down on the curb.

"I just got a text from Heejun, he should be here in an hour."

Woohyuk rolled his eyes. "What a surprise."

Tony smirked. "He's never been on time to anything in his life, has he?"

Woohyuk shook his head. "At least we know he's on his way."

While they were waiting, Woohyuk was going through Jaewon's phone again partly because he was bored, but also because he was hoping to find anything he had missed before. He finally gave up after going through the taxi app again. He huffed and stood up to stretch.

That's when he saw a cab parked down the street. Normally, this wouldn't have attracted his attention, but there was something that looked off about it. That's when he noticed the license plate.

Woohyuk gasped as he realized it was the same cab as the one Jaewon took last night. He went running.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" Tony called, standing up.

"I'LL BE RIGHT BACK, STAY HERE."

Just as Woohyuk reached the end of the block, the cab took off. He continued to chase after the car until it came to a stop light. Seeing his chance, Woohyuk reached the car and banged on one of the car's windows. The driver rolled down his window. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?"

"Please pullover so we can talk," Woohyuk gasped.

"Why the hell would I do that!?" The driver scowled, furious.

"You took home a passenger last night after one in the morning," Woohyuk rushed, knowing the light would change very soon, so he quickly opened Jaewon's phone and showed it to the driver. "This guy is my friend. He went missing today. You were the last person to see him. Do you remember him at all?"

The man leaned over to look at the phone and squinted at it. "Yeah, I know who you're talking about. He was my last passenger before I went home for the night. I got him to his destination though."

"Did you see him go inside an apartment building about a block away from here?" Woohyuk asked desperately.

The man nodded. "Yeah. He practically skipped his way in."

"Did you see anyone with him?"

The man shook his head. "Nope, just him."

A car behind the taxi honked, so Woohyuk pulled back. "Thank you for your help."

"I hope you find your friend," the driver waved while rolling away.

Woohyuk moved back to the sidewalk and let out a breath. Damn it. The dancer gloomily headed back to Jaewon's apartment. He was just about to turn onto Jaewon's street when he noticed a cab parked with the same license plate as the one he had just seen.

Confused and suspicious, Woohyuk approached the car. When he got close to it, the driver rolled down his window. The idol looked at the driver, and was confused when he saw an entirely different man sitting behind the wheel.

"How can I help you?" The man asked with a smile.

Woohyuk pulled out Jaewon's phone and showed it to the man. "Did you pick up this man last night at around one o'clock this morning?"

The driver nodded. "Oh, yes. I also did so at seven this morning."

Woohyuk frowned. Something wasn't adding up, but he had a feeling this man would lead him to Jaewon. "Do you know where he went?"

The man smiled and motioned for Woohyuk to get in. "Why yes, I do."

Skeptical, but wanting to see what was going to happen, the idol got in the cab.

The driver hummed to a trot song that was on the radio, as Woohyuk put his seat belt on. The guy wasn't necessarily doing anything strange, but his presence was creeping out the dancer. The H.O.T member pulled out his phone to text Tony and Heejun.

The man stopped humming. "Why don't you put your phone away?"

Woohyuk looked at the rear view mirror to see the man with a sinister smile on his face. "There are other people who are looking for him, I want to let them know where I am."

The man chuckled. "You've got a choice, either put your phone away and sit nicely until we get to our destination."

"Or?"

"I can leave you here."

Woohyuk put his hand on the door handle, but didn't try to get out of the car. The man smiled knowingly. "Don't you want to know what happened to your group member?"

If Woohyuk had any doubts before that this man was involved with Jaewon's disappearance, those doubts were gone now. He had a feeling that the man was waiting for him, which means that Jaewon's disappearance wasn't random. This was a part of a plan. He put his hand down. "Alright, I'll play your game."

The man started humming again as Woohyuk's legs start to shake, and he felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket.

Both men sat in silence as the car passed through different neighborhoods, hit a highway, then reached a warehouse. Night had fallen by the time they arrived. His phone hadn't stopped going off, but he didn't pick up. He hoped that Heejun and Tony had realized something was wrong, and called for help so that someone was tracing his location.

The car stopped and the man got out. Woohyuk watched as he came around and opened the door for him. The idol got out, briefly grateful for the chance to stretch his legs. He looked around. Nobody was standing around. No Jaewon.

"Where's Jaewon?"

The man smiled and pointed to an open loading dock. Woohyuk didn't see anyone, but then again, there was only one light on outside of the building. If someone was in there, it would be impossible for him to be able to tell from so far away.

At the sound of an engine running, Woohyuk turned to see the cab driving off. He wanted to chase after it, but it was soon out of sight.

Woohyuk pulled out Jaewon's phone, but it was dead. Then, he pulled out his own phone and tried to call 119, but the call wasn't connecting. Strange, his phone was working in the car.

Feeling like he had no choice, Woohyuk went to the warehouse's loading dock. He pulled himself up, and used his phone's flashlight to look around. "Jaewon?"

No response.

He went further into the building and saw something familiar lying on the ground. Cautiously, he approached it. In the light of his phone, he saw it was something white and orange. He picked it up, instantly recognizing it as the overalls Jaewon wore for "Candy". Was it just really Jaewon's or was it a replica? Woohyuk held the fabric to his nose. It reeked of Jaewon's cologne, but not his familiar sweaty smell. Which meant that Jaewon never wore this, or at least never performed in it. Whoever put this here knew enough about him to know what Jaewon smelled like.

This had to be some kind of a trap.

Woohyuk put the overalls down, and resumed his search for Jaewon. But there was nothing there, so after a lengthy search, Woohyuk left the warehouse.

Now what?

A flash of light nearly blinded him, as he put a hand up to shield his eyes. He realized he was looking at headlights. How had he missed the sound of a car coming?

Woohyuk felt a flash of fear go through him, and he turned to run. He could hear a car behind him, and it was gaining on him fast.

"HELP!" Woohyuk screamed.

The only reply he got was something slamming into him from behind. He landed on the ground, groaning in pain.

The idol tried to get up, but his lower back and shoulder were killing him. He rolled over and tried to stand, but then fell. He looked down and with the light of his phone, he saw his leg was bent, like someone had taken his calf and decided to bend it perpendicular to his knee. Blood was flowing out, and Woohyuk felt nauseous as he could see part of a bone sticking out.

"Oh my, did someone have an accident?"

Woohyuk turned to look at the person who had spoken in a mocking tone of voice, and saw two men getting out of a car.

"W-Why are you doing this?" Woohyuk gasped in pain.

One of the men crouched next to him. "We're here to take you home."

Woohyuk tried to scoot away from the man, but had difficulty moving because of how much pain he was in.

One of the men pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and put it over Woohyuk's face, as he weakly struggled to break free. When he finally stopped fighting, the men backed away to admire their handiwork.

"Two down, three to go."


	3. Resurrection

Tony waited on the sidewalk for Woohyuk to come back. _Why was he running after a cab?_ He sent his friend another text.

Tony: Where are you??

"Sir?"

Tony looked up to see the apartment manager next to him. "Did you find Jaewon?"  
  


She gave him a sad look, and sat down next to him. "Yes and no." Before Tony could say anything, she put her hand up. "He did make it to the building, and most likely to his apartment-"

"What do you mean?" Tony interrupted.

The building manager breathed out heavily. "The CCTV camera only goes as far as the elevator. However, it doesn't have any audio and can't see down the hallway to his door."

"But his shoes and his jacket were inside," Tony replied, scrambling to think of an explanation.

The woman nodded. "So, he made it to his unit."

Tony nodded, as she confirmed what he had suspected. "Okay, but did you see him leave his apartment?"

The apartment manager shook her head. "If he did, it was either through a window or the stairs. Neither of which make sense, especially since he didn't show up on any of the CCTV cameras in this building."

Tony wanted to ask why the stairs wouldn't have made sense, but then he remembered that Jaewon's apartment was close to twenty floors up. Jaewon is in shape, but that would have been too much for him. As for the window, the idea of that was also absurd. Jaewon is thin, but not thin enough to go through any of the tiny windows in his apartment. If he didn't show up on CCTV leaving, then that could only mean...

"Who else access to the CCTV cameras in this building?" The woman thought for a moment. "Nobody, just me."

"What about the landlord?"

The woman chuckled. "On paper he does, but he only drops by when he has to. To my knowledge, he's at his house in Jeju right now."

Tony huffed and looked around. "Is it possible that one of the other CCTVs nearby could have caught him?"

"It's possible, but that's a lot of cameras you'd have to go through." The woman shrugged and stood up. "I'll ask people to keep an eye out for him, but other than that, I don't think we'll be much help until you can get the police involved."

Tony bowed to the woman, as she departed. He looked around and tried to count how many cameras there were in the area. The idol had a feeling he would need a lot of help.

Just then, Heejun pulled up with his van and rolled down the passenger side window. "Sorry, I'm late." Tony hopped in, and put his seat belt on. "Jaewon's stuff was at home, but he's not there. CCTV captured him getting out of the elevator on his floor, but not of him leaving. Next step is to go through the CCTV cameras around this area to see if any of them show where he went."

Heejun nodded. "Where are Kangta and Woohyuk?"

Tony frowned. "Kangta had a schedule, so he left while Woohyuk and I talked to the building manager. But Woohyuk took off after a cab a few minutes ago."

"A cab?" Heejun questioned.

"Yeah, he just ran after it and hasn't responded to my texts."

Heejun's expression turned serious. "Which way did he go?"

Tony had to hold on to the car door, as Heejun raced down the street.

"Something's wrong," Heejun said, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "Text Kangta to get his ass back here, then text as many people as you know."

Tony nodded and started frantically typing, as Heejun patrolled around the area. Three people in, Tony just decided to send a mass text to everybody he knew.

Tony: Jaewon went missing this morning. CCTV footage shows him going in his apartment, but not out. However, he wasn't found at his residence, even though his shoes, jacket, and cell phone were still there. As of an hour ago, Woohyuk has also gone missing. Please keep an eye out for them and spread the word.

Tony's and Heejun's phones were being flooded with texts from alarmed idols, managers, friends, family members, and industry professionals. "I think we've got people's attention," Tony said.

"Have Kangta and Woohyuk responded yet?" Heejun asked, as he turned on another street. He desperately hoped to see one of their three members wandering around, but there was no sign of them.

Tony looked through his messages. "Nope. No response from either."

"Okay, then."

Heejun turned the van around and headed for the highway. "Where are we going?"

"SM."

Tony had he feeling he knew what Heejun was thinking, and he didn't like it. In the span of a few hours, they had lost contact with Jaewon, Woohyuk, and Kangta. However, the only one they (potentially) had a lead on was Kangta, so they were first going to check SM. If he wasn't there and nobody knew where he was, well, then at least they could get more people to look. Tony had tried calling the company while they were on their way, but he kept being hung up on.

"Heejun, we need to call the cops."

His leader nodded his head. "Let's see if Kangta is around first, then we'll go from there."

They arrived at the SM building over an hour later than they had hoped, due to hitting rush hour traffic. Heejun didn't bother trying to figure out where to park, he just stopped right in front and got out. Tony followed him, still trying to call Woohyuk.

They looked at each other for a second, then turned to go inside. They were about to reach the doors when Kangta's manager came out.

"What the hell is going on?" the man hissed. "You guys have been blowing up Kangta's phone AND I just got a call from Yoo Jaesuk asking if Kangta was okay."

"I don't know what Kangta told you, but basically Jaewon and Woohyuk were abducted, and we think Kangta is next," Tony replied quickly.

The manager's mouth dropped in shock. "WHAT? HOW?"

Heejun just shook his head. "We'll explain later. Is Kangta in there??"

"Yes, he's in a meeting right now," the man replied.

"Are you sure he's still in there? Wasn't it supposed to start a few hours ago?" Heejun questioned.

The manager waved him off. "You know what meetings are like, it's not out of the ordinary for them to go on for hours on end."

"Under normal circumstances, yeah, but we need to see for sure," Tony insisted.

The manager shook his head, but still motioned for them to follow him. "I'm going to get into so much trouble for this."

"Just let us do all of the talking," Heejun replied.

They were led through the building to a door. Kangta's manager looked back at them one more time. "If I get fired, this is on your heads."

Tony nodded sagely. "That's fine, we were looking to add someone to our staff. We'll talk numbers after this whole thing is over." The man cracked a smile, and knocked on the door.

The door opened and Kangta's manager bowed. "Is Kangta still here? It's an emergency." A man Heejun and Tony didn't recognize poked his head out and saw them. He looked at them in surprise, then at Kangta's manager.

"Is Kangta there? We need to know where he is right now, he's in danger," Heejun stated seriously.

The room broke out into hushed whispers. They heard footsteps approach, and Lee Sooman appeared at the door. "Heejun? Tony? What are you doing here? What the hell is going on?"

Heejun and Tony bowed to him. "There's no time to explain. Is Kangta in there with you?"

Lee Sooman shook his head. "No, he's in a meeting down the hall. What's wrong?"

Tony, Heejun, and Kangta's manager sprinted away without replying, leaving the former CEO bewildered.

"How the hell is he in another meeting without my knowledge?" Kangta's manager fumed. He banged on the door angrily, and shouted. "KANGTA, ARE YOU IN THERE?"

The door opened by-

Kangta.

Heejun, Tony, and Kangta's manager all sighed in relief. Heejun and Tony wrapped their arms around him.

"What's going on?" Kangta gasped, as he was crushed by his two friends.

Kangta's manager leaned against the wall. "Kangta, you gave us a heart attack."

"I gave you a heart attack? That knock you did scared the shit out of me!" Kangta replied, trying to pry away from his hyungs. "What's the matter with you guys?"

Suddenly, Kangta noticed someone was missing. "Where's Woohyuk?" Tony and Heejun gave him a look, and his mouth dropped open. "Don't tell me something happened to him."

Heejun rubbed his shoulder, as Kangta's manager handed him his phone. "After you left, he disappeared and hasn't been picking up his phone. And you weren't answering your phone either, so we were scared something had happened to you too."

Kangta gave them a pitiful look, understanding their reaction now. "Did the apartment manager turn up anything?"

Tony shook his head. "She confirmed that he got home, but not how he disappeared."

"Kangta, what are you doing?" The door opened wider and BoA's head popped out. She noticed Heejun and Tony standing there. "Is everything okay?" She looked at Kangta's manager, who shook his head. She was about to go back in when the door slammed against the wall, and Leeteuk appeared with an annoyed look on his face. "What are you guys doing here?"

BoA tried to pull him inside, but the other idol pulled his arm away from her. "You know you're not supposed to be here."

"Jungsu!"

Heejun frowned at the rudeness Super Junior's leader was showing. They normally got along okay whenever they met, so his coldness was kind of surprising. "You can finish you're reunion later, we've got work to do."

Kangta gripped his remaining members close to him. "Okay, okay. Just...I need to finish this meeting."

  
Heejun turned to Kangta's manager. "It might be better if he stays here. There's a lot of people around here, so if something happens, more people will see it."

Kangta and his manager agreed. "Alright, I'll call you when I'm out."

They hugged each other one more time - just in case - and separated.

Tony followed Heejun out. "What do we do now?"

"We need to see if anyone has found anything yet."

They got back into Heejun's van and saw that there were a lot of texts and voicemails they needed to go through. It took a few hours, but they finally had everything answered. It was close to ten at night by the time Kangta and his manager knocked on the window and climbed in.

"Okay, catch me up."

Heejun handed Kangta his phone. "Here are my notes. Basically, Jaewon and Woohyuk are still gone. Nobody has seen them and they haven't made any contact yet."

Kangta nodded as he read through what Heejun had compiled. "So, what now?"

Heejun shook his head. "Well, we still have to wait another day before we can file a missing person report on Jaewon. In the meantime, we try to see if any of the CCTV cameras in Jaewon's neighborhood picked up anything and wait. However, considering the time, we'll probably have to wait until around ten tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Kangta nodded, looking up at his leader. "Please text me when you guys get home."

Tony turned to Kangta. "I'd prefer it if you came home with me. I don't want you to be alone right now."

"I'll be staying at his place tonight, and talking to his building's manager in the morning to make sure she can watch out for anyone suspicious in the area," Kangta's manager piped up.

Satisfied, they waved goodbye as Kangta and his manager left for their own van. As Heejun drove away from the company, Tony leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He wanted to get some sleep, but his phone started ringing. His eyes snapped open, hoping it was one of their missing members, but the name that flashed on the screen was Jaeduk's.

He instantly felt at ease when he heard his soulmate's voice. "Hey, when are you coming home? Did you find Kangta?"

"Yeah, Kangta is okay. And I'm on my way, Heejun is dropping me off," Tony replied, rubbing his eyes. Man, today had been such a long day.

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Haven't really had the appetite to be honest," Tony sighed.

"Alright, I'll make some porridge for you."

Tony smiled softly. "Thank you."

"We'll find Jaewon and Woohyuk, okay? But in the meantime you can't neglect your own health, okay?" Heejun hummed in agreement to Jaeduk's words, and leaned over a bit. "We owe you guys once this is over."

There was a pause.

  
"Include Sechskies on your album, and you have a deal," Jaeduk cackled.

Heejun laughed, leaning back to his seat. "Fine with me."

"Alrighty then, we'll join be joining in with scouring Jaewon's neighborhood with you guys at 9AM sharp. Bye~"

Tony laughed and ended the called.

Heejun patted his shoulder. "I know I had my reservations in the past, but he really is good for you."

Tony smiled widely. "H.O.T and Jaeduk both have my heart."

When they finally arrived, Heejun pulled him into a hug. "Text me when you get in, okay?" Tony returned the hug. "I promise."

Tony got out and went inside. He went to the elevator, but was disappointed to find a sign that said "OUT OF ORDER" on it. Groaning, Tony started to jog up the stairs.

The idol was grateful he had quit smoking because he wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise. He had just made it to the landing on the second floor when he noticed two guys blocking his way up to the third floor.

"Excuse me," Tony panted.

The men didn't move.

"Can I get around you, please?"

One of the men moved out of the way, and Tony quickly went passed him.

Suddenly, it felt like he was struck by lightning. Tony fell down the steps in front of him. He groaned as he rolled over and clutched his ribs, panting heavily. He saw the two men staring down at him with bright smiles on their faces.

"Aw, did you have a fall?"

One of the men kicked his stomach, completely winding him. Tony tried to yell for help, but then other man pulled out a stun gun and jabbed it into his side. Oh, so that was why he fell down.

After struggling to move for a few minutes, Tony shakily got to his feet and tried to run up the stairs.

But he felt something grip the collar of his shirt and yank him back. Again he fell down a flight of stairs. His head was and back were now aching as well.

"Please, stop," Tony pleaded. The men just stared at him in amusement.

The idol wanted to get up again, but he had a feeling that these guys were making a game out of his struggle. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he looked up at them.

"Are you the ones who took my friends?"

One of them grabbed him by the chin. "Better question: 'Are you going to be the ones to slaughter my little family upstairs?'"

Tony looked at the man in horror, when he opened his jacket and showed Tony that he was carrying a gun. "Please, what do you want?"

The man smiled. "I just want you to come with me. If you are good, I won't even break any bones."

Seeing no choice, Tony accepted his situation and followed the men as they took him back downstairs. But by the time they reached the car that was parked in front of the building, Tony was starting to feel short of breath. Another man stepped out of the car and opened the door for him.

"TONY!"

He looked up to see the terrified face of Jaeduk. Before he could reply, he heard the sound of two gun shots and saw Jaeduk fall to ground.

"JAEDUK!" Tony screamed, as one of the men grabbed him and held him back. "JAEDUK! HELP! SOMEBOD-"

WHAM!

Tony slumped over on the ground unconscious. The man who had the gun put it back in his jacket and snapped his fingers at the other two.

The men chuckled, as they threw the fallen H.O.T member into the van and got in after him.

"Three down, two to go."


	4. I-YAH!

"Heejun!"

The idol looked up when his name was called. The hospital's waiting room was eerily quiet at this time of night, so his friend's voice was rather jarring to hear. He saw Jiwon, Suwon, Jaijin, and their group's manager running towards him. H.O.T's leader got up, and collapsed into Sechkies's leader's outstretched arms.

"I-I'm so sorry!" Heejun sobbed.

Jiwon patted his back. "Hey, you did the best you could."

_It had happened in an instant. After he saw Tony go inside his building, he texted Jaeduk let him know, then he drove off. He almost made it onto the main road when he decided to turn back. Nothing felt off, he just wanted to make sure nobody was hanging around who shouldn't have been. However, when he was close to the Tony-Jaeduk residence, he saw something that would traumatize him for years: Jaeduk was being gunned down and Tony was being taken away in a car. He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the license plate, then got out and called for 911. He ran to Jaeduk and saw that he had been shot twice: once in the head and once in his chest. Heejun took off his jacket and pressed it to Jaeduk's head, as he answered the dispatcher's questions. He pressed other hand on the fallen idol's chest, as he waited for help to arrive._

_He didn't even notice that people were in the area at the time, until someone knelt down next to him and took out his handkerchief to press down on Jaeduk's chest. Another man dropped down helped him to apply pressure to Jaeduk's head. He looked up and saw more people on their phones, and while most of them were recording what was going on, some were also calling 119. Eventually emergency services and the media arrived, trying to get to Jaeduk and figure out what was going on. He was pulled away from the Sechskies member's unconscious body, while cameras and mics were thrust into his face. Heejun looked up at the people who gathered, eager to hear him speak, so they could spread his story for internet clout and ad clicks, or twist it for their own self-serving purpose. But after being an idol for so long, even though there were a lot of negatives to the media, they were also his best bet at getting help for his missing members. So, he stood up and got the crowd to follow him a bit of a distance away from the paramedics, so they could do their work in peace._

_"Tonight, Sechskies member, Jaeduk, and H.O.T member, Tony, were both attacked by what I believe to be part of larger plot. My group members Jaewon, Woohyuk, and now Tony are missing. Please help us."_

_Cameras flashed and people shouted questions at him, but that didn't matter to him. He said what he needed to before something happened to him as well. People now know that something is seriously wrong.  
_

"Hey, did you hear that?"

Heejun lifted his head to see Jiwon smiling. When had they sat down? When did the nurse get here and what did she just say? He was starting to worry about how he was having gaps in his memory. "Jaeduk's going to make it." H.O.T's leader broke down in tears. For the first time in hours, he finally had some good news.

Jiwon patted his knee. "One shot was above his eye, and the other was above his heart. Thanks to your quick reaction, he didn't lose as much blood as he would have without you."

Heejun looked down at his hands. "He wouldn't have been in that situation if I hadn't driven away in the first place."

Jaijin kicked his foot. "Don't you dare start having a pity party. Nobody in Korea expects to get shot coming out of their apartment at around ten o'clock at night. People are still wandering around at that hour. Besides, you know damn well that Jaeduk would do anything for Tony."

Heejun nodded and looked at his phone. The battery was low, but there were hundreds of texts and missed calls he would have to get through in the near future. Jiwon seemed to know what he was thinking, and pulled his phone out of his hand. "I'll handle this, you just close your eyes for a while, okay?" Heejun felt like he had just blinked, and suddenly the sun was rising. How long had he been out? He turned to see Suwon, Jaijin, and Jiwon on quietly discussing something.

Before Heejun could open his mouth, a cop walked in with a doctor and nodded at them. "Hello, again." H.O.T's leader didn't recognize either man, but he still nodded at them. "Any good news?"

The doctor decided to speak up first. "Well, Mr. Kim made it through surgery with no complications and is in the ICU. However, we don't expect that he will have any long-term problems. He got lucky. If the person who shot him decided to use higher-caliber bullets, he wouldn't have made it."

Heejun and the remaining Sechskies members breathed sighs of relief.

The cop then cleared his throat. "As for the culprits, we looked at CCTV and we were able to confirm your story. However, we weren't able to get the license plate number and we're still trying to find the men involved."

H.O.T's leader scrambled to open his phone. "I took a picture of the plate." He handed it to the cop who took it and looked at the blurry picture, nodded and pulled out a card. "Send that picture to this email. It's very blurry, but I can kind of tell what the numbers are." Heejun felt hope fill his chest. They had a chance at getting JTL back.

After the doctor and the cop left, Heejun turned to Jiwon. "Has anyone contacted Kangta yet?"

The other leader nodded, "Yeah, he's freaking out, but he's fine. He's staying put at his house until he hears anything from you."

Heejun nodded, and leaned back in his seat. He breathed out, trying to think of what to do next. He felt a tap on his knee, and looked over to see Jiwon motioning for him to follow. He trailed behind the man, as Jaijin and Suwon resumed speaking to each other while looking at their phones. The leader of Sechskies led him to a bathroom, and checked that they were alone.

"Okay, be honest with me. How are you holding up?"

Heejun sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Not good. I feel like I'm about to have a mental breakdown. Three of my friends are missing, one has been shot, and I feel like I'm on borrowed time. Not to mention, I haven't been home since yesterday morning, so my wife is probably freaking out seeing the news."

Jiwon nodded. "Fair enough. How can we help, besides not leave your side?"

Heejun thought for a moment, then looked up at his former rival. "If...well, _when_ something happens to me, can you take care of my wife and my daughter until they're able to get on their feet?"

The other man stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Anything else?"

The leader of H.O.T thought for a moment. "Yeah, when you find out whoever is doing this, give them hell for me, okay?"

"Of course," Jiwon cracked a smile. "But what about you and Kangta?"

Heejun shook his head. "I don't think there's anything you can do for us. We don't know why this is happening, we don't know who is behind this, we don't know where JTL is, and we don't even know what kind of physical condition our members are in."

"You're just going to give up?" Jiwon scowled. "You're not going to try to go into hiding or confront them?"

Heejun gave his friend a sad look. "I have three loves: my family, my music, and my members. I'm losing my members, and I'm terrified that my wife or my daughter will end up worse than Jaeduk if I don't separate myself from them."

Jiwon nodded in understanding. He didn't like what he said, but couldn't disagree with it. He knew Heejun was just trying to make sure nobody else got hurt.

"Now what?" That was the question. What could be done? Sure the police were involved now, and the general public was starting to be aware of their situation, but really, they just had to wait and keep checking on each other. Heejun pulled out his phone and dialed Kangta's number, but then a notification came up. Heejun opened the text.  
  


Unknown Number: Come to Jamsil Stadium. Alone. No cops. Your cooperation will determine if anyone else will be harmed. You've got one hour.

"Heejun?"

H.O.T's leader put his phone up to his ear, and listened to his remaining member's panicked voice. "I'll see you soon, take care of yourself." Then, he ended the call and looked up at Jiwon, who gave him a puzzled look. "What's going on?" Heejun put his phone away. "Looks like my number has been called." Jiwon opened his mouth to argue, so Heejun typed in his pass code and handed him his phone. The other idol read the message, then nodded to Heejun and gave him his phone back.

Jiwon handed him his car keys. "So, I guess I'll see you on the other side?"

Heejun the hospital quickly, and made it to the site of the old Olympic Park with ten minutes to spare. He didn't bother taking the keys with him, just his phone. Then he sprinted to the entrance, expecting whoever had texted him to have left the doors unlocked. To his surprise, they wouldn't open. His pocket buzzed, another text message.

Unknown Number: Go to the back entrance. I just heard that Sechskies got into a serious car accident because you told Jiwon where you were going. How sad. You've got five minutes.

Heejun huffed, as he was slightly out of breath. A part of him knew that Sechskies were going to stay the hospital with Jaeduk. But the other part of him was panicking and feeling guilty, because there was a very real possibility they had tried to return to their homes to get some rest. He looked at the time: 10:05. Before he put his phone in his pocket, he noticed that his phone only had 15% battery left.

The winded idol ran around the stadium until he got to the back entrance where idols tended to arrive at. He checked the door there. It was also locked. Frustrated, Heejun took out his phone and look at the time. It was 10:09. He waited for another text, but it didn't come immediately. While he waited, he checked his messages. After having looked at them, he noticed that there wasn't any cell reception in the area. But he wasn't supposed to move, right? His battery was now down to 10%.

Feeling desperate, Heejun looked around for a clue about what to do next. There was nothing written on the door, or on the walls. He looked down and saw a piece of paper taped to the ground. He quickly stooped down to pick it up and turned it over.

It was blank.

_Click._

Heejun turned around, and saw the door behind him was opened a bit. He went in and held up his phone as a flashlight. As he looked for a light switch panel, he listened for the sound of anyone coming. He found a wall with light switches and tried to flip a couple, but none were working. He wandered around trying to open doors and turn on any lights he saw, but everything was locked and none of the lights would turn on.

"Hello?"

Suddenly, everything went dark. Heejun tried turning on his phone, but it was useless as his battery was dead.

_Click._

It was faint, but it sounded like a door was unlocked down the hall. Heejun put his hand on the wall and used it to guide him down the long, dark corridor. It didn't matter that he had been here before. In the complete dark, he couldn't find his way. He started running, scared of what could be hiding while he was unable to see. Eventually he slammed into something hard, and backed up, clutching his nose. He could feel that it was wet, and something was dripping down his face. Great, now he potentially had a broken nose on top of everything else.

Heejun reached down to grab the door handle, and thrust it open. He stepped inside, but didn't hear anything. His footsteps echoed as he walked. He reached out to touch something, but in the darkness, he struggled to find anything in front of him. Then, he felt pain in his foot, as he had kicked something. He got stooped down with his hand outreached, and realized it was a stair.

Out of the blue, he could hear music above him. It took him a second, but he recognized it as "The Promise of H.O.T". With his hands stretched out in front of him, he carefully climbed up the steps in front of him. When he got to (what seemed to be) the top, he stood up and reached his arms out as he walked. He tried to think of where he could be. He hoped he could find some way to get to the part of the stadium that was open to the sky, so that he could have some light.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Four steps.

His foot didn't touch the ground.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Four seconds.

The lights came on, but Heejun wasn't conscious to see it. In the darkness he had gotten turned around, and fell off the staircase he had just climbed up.

_Click._

A door opened and two men came out. One of them turned over the bloodied idol and fished around in his pockets. He pulled out Heejun's phone and saw that it wasn't on. He chuckled, "And here I had thought he was ignoring us." They both laughed and grabbed him by his legs, and pulled him through the door they had just come out of.

_Four down, one to go._


	5. Outside Castle

_"I'll see you soon, take care of yourself."_

_Beep Beep_

"HEEJUN!" Kangta screamed into his phone, before slamming it onto his sofa and burying his head in hands. "No, no, no, no, no..."

In the course of a few days, Kangta had never experienced such highs and lows since H.O.T's disbandment. He went from feeling excited about their comeback, to terrified at seeing his closest friends disappearing one by one. To add to it, he was constantly being called into meetings about the future direction of SM Entertainment that frustratingly didn't convey any information, and were mostly a waste of his time. It felt like everyone and everything under the sun were against H.O.T. They had thought that they had overcome through every obstacle, but maybe they just weren't meant to be together again?

_Kakao!_

The vocalist scrambled to pick up his phone, praying Heejun was safe and texting him that he was on his way over.

Eun Jiwon: Suwon is coming to your place to pick you up. We need to talk.

Kangta: Do you know where Heejun is??

Eun Jiwon: That's what we need to talk about.

The idol was about to reply back, when his manager walked into the room. The man looked worn out, and had been on the phone with executives at the company for the last few hours. "Chilhyun..." Unless they were close friends or family, no one called him by his real name unless they were serious about something.

Kangta gripped his phone tightly in his hand. "What now?"

"Meeting at SM in half an hour."

"Alright, let me just text Jiwon," Kangta responded, as he moved towards the door. He assumed that the meeting was going to be about Kangta's safety, as it was pretty clear that he was in danger.

Kangta: Tell him to come to SM instead. I'm on my way there now.

Jiwon: Will do.

As his manager drove, Kangta scrolled through his phone, looking for any updates on Heejun's whereabouts. His manager had just parked when he read a headline that shocked him to his core: SECHSKIES MEMBER INVOLVED IN DEADLY CRASH. AT LEAST ONE DEAD, ONE IN CRITICAL CONDITION. Instead of reading the article, he frantically called Jiwon. He didn't pick up.

"DAMN IT!" Kangta screamed, slamming his fist against the dashboard. His manager pulled his arms back, and worriedly asked what was going on. But Kangta wasn't able to reply because he was starting to hyperventilate. His manager was patient, though, and eventually managed to get him to calm down. When Kangta's breathing returned to normal, his manager pulled out his phone to call SM and begged for Kangta to be able to skip the meeting. The worn-down idol could tell that the answer was no, so he put his hand on the van's door, and dove out half-running, half-stumbling into the building. His manager chased after him, and together they managed to make it to the meeting on time. His manager patted his arms and wished him good luck, then went to sit down outside of the meeting room.

"What the hell is going on with you?" BoA hurriedly whispered, as he took his seat next to her. He didn't reply to her, instead he looked at who all were in the room. There was Lee Sooman, the CEO, Yoo Youngjin, the members of the executive board, a bunch of heads of different departments, Yunho, Leeteuk, Onew, Taeyeon, Baekhyun, and an older man whom Kangta had never met before.

BoA kicked his leg under the table to get his attention, "Chilhyun, seriously, tell me what's going on. I keep seeing news about the members of H.O.T disappearing, are you in danger?"

He nodded, but before he could say anymore, Lee Sooman called for the meeting to start. "Now, I know there's been a lot of buzz in the industry over the tragic events that have transpired recently," Kangta sat up straighter in his chair and gave the founder his full attention. "However, today I would like to talk about the exciting future of our company. Mr. Kim, would you please do the honors?"

Kangta's and BoA's mouth dropped in disbelief, as a man neither of them knew stood up and started his presentation with a smile. He was middle-aged and balding, but dressed rather sharply.

"SM Entertainment has been the cornerstone of K-Pop for decades. However, while it's good to focus on the future, we should also be promoting the past. Even though the concept of using a museum to preserve the past is undoubtedly a good idea, many people felt that the SMTown museum was lacking, and I couldn't agree more." Kangta felt like ice had engulfed his chest. On the screen was a picture of H.O.T at their last reunion concert. "SM first innovated with this group..." The man went on and on talking about H.O.T's accomplishments, but Kangta couldn't help but wonder where this was going. This wasn't the first time they had been referenced by someone who wanted to name drop the group for some stupid scheme that had nothing to do with them. "And they are once again about to make history with SM Entertainment at the helm." _What?_

The slide changed to show the sixth album's artwork that Kangta had paid good money for. It was supposed to play off of the artwork H.O.T had used when they weren't allowed to use their logo for their reunion concerts. They took the image of the members' outlines and added wings in white amongst a black background. The words "Warrior's Descendants" were written at their feet in English. However, there was one thing about the image that shocked him: at one corner was the SM logo.

Kangta stood up so quickly, he knocked his chair over. "What are you talking about?" He pointed at the company logo. "H.O.T isn't producing this album under SM!" The rest of the idols in the room turned to look at Mr. Kim, their CEO, and Lee Sooman in shock. "The masters of our our old albums are still property of SM, but this one is being made entirely at Tony's company!" Lee Sooman looked away and took a drink of water. Mr. Kim just continued to smile brightly. "Ah, but that's why you're here today! H.O.T is going to be a part of a new campaign."

A new slide came on the screen with the title: THE IDOL RE-ACQUISITION PROGRAM

Mr. Kim pointed to the title. "H.O.T is going to be the first group to reform under the company they debuted under. After speaking with heads of other companies, I expect that DSP will take Sechskies back soon after. We're going to allow H.O.T's sixth album to be released, so as to please the public, then let them go on tour around the country. Once we made our money back with them, we're going to be pursuing the members of JYJ-" Yunho gasped at this, and dropped something on the floor. "And eventually retrieve all of those whom used to be under this company. And of course, for those who have passed away, we're going to be figuring out who to put in their place." Onew knocked over his water and started shaking in his seat.

"We didn't agree to this!" Kangta shouted. Lee Sooman looked up at him, "Chilhyun, sit down. You're being rude."

The idol looked at his long-time boss incredulously. " _I'm being rude?_ NONE of the members have expressed interest in returning after they left, and you know that. Also, if any of you have watched the news since yesterday, you'd know that H.O.T isn't going to be performing at all anytime soon."

Mr. Kim's smile didn't fade at all. "Oh, don't worry about them. They'll be back in our practice rooms soon."

"No, they won't!" Kangta seethed. "Unless you know where they are, you need to drop this idea entirely."

Mr. Kim moved around the table towards Kangta. "Chilhyun, don't worry about them. They're just settling in at their new dorm."

" _New dorm!?"_ Kangta gasped. "They haven't even signed a contract!"

The man stopped in front of the idol. "Contracts are just a formality at SM, you should know that. If we want an idol to sign a contract, and they don't agree to do it on SM's terms, they don't sing. That's how it works here."

Kangta refused to stand down. "How would you know how things work around here?"

"I'm the new owner."

The idols in the room gasped, but Mr. Kim wasn't done.He turned to the line of idols who were sitting together. "You all signed contracts to work here. You are all leaders of groups who have had people leave. Except for Baekhyun, as your leader is in the military right now, I have chosen you to be acting in his place. Either convince your wayward members to come on their own, or I will. Obviously BoA, you've never been in a group, so your presence here was merely requested because you're a directly. But for right now, you're all dismissed. I wish to speak to Mr. Ahn alone."

People started getting up and leaving. BoA and Yunho hesitated, but they were shooed out as well. The door closed after the last person left. It was just Mr. Kim and Kangta now.

"What the hell gave you the idea that something so _evil_ would be okay!?"

Mr. Kim turned to look back at Kangta. "Because every other 'evil' idea has been. Sure, SM lost whenever it was taken to court, but you and I both know that most of the things idols experience here will never make it to court and can't be proven."

"You're right, there are a lot of times when terrible events have happened here. Some of which, I was complicit in because I thought things would turn out okay in the end, but then I came to regret my decisions," Kangta looked up at his new boss in defiance. "But, I'm done with trying to keep the peace for the sake of H.O.T. If this is what playing nice leads to, then I'm going to fight until my last breath to make sure it doesn't happen."

Mr. Kim didn't move for a moment, but then he moved towards Kangta. "Have it your way." The older man lunged at Kangta, but the idol scrambled away from him. He moved to the other side of the table almost facing the door, when Mr. Kim pulled out a handgun. Kangta ducked under the table.

BANG!

He had to get out. If he stayed and just tried to hide, he wouldn't make it out alive. Kangta crawled towards the door.

BANG!

The vocalist covered his head, as debris from broken glass fell on him. The door slammed open.

"KANGTA!"

BANG!

The idol looked up to see his manager on the floor. Shit. He had to get out of here. The vocalist was almost at the door.

BANG!

The bullet missed him, but he saw a security guard fall to the ground with his face covered in blood.

"DON'T MOVE!" The idol felt a foot slam down on his back. "You move, I'll shoot you!"

"Is that what you told my friends!?" Kangta shouted. "Is that what you told Jaewon, Woohyuk, Tony, and Heejun!?"

"No, I actually don't know what was said to them," Mr. Kim laughed. "I hired a few men and told them to get them here by whatever means they chose. You however-" He stomped on Kangta's spine. "Were supposed to say, 'Thank you, Mr. Kim! It's such an honor that you want to make my washed-up 90s boy band relevant again.'"

Even though Kangta was well-aware that this man was armed, he felt rage. Not anger, no this was something he had never felt before. It felt as if his whole chest was holding in magma and it was about to spew out of his mouth to burn everything in its path. "FUCK YOU!" The vocalist used all of his strength to force his arm muscles up, and caused Mr. Kim to be unbalanced and fall over.

Kangta kicked him, but the man grabbed his leg raised it over his head, so that Kangta fell into the table and smashed his head on a corner of the surface. Seeing his chance, Mr. Kim sat up and quickly moved to wrap his hands around Kangta's throat. The idol clawed at the man, but it didn't do any good.

He couldn't breathe.

He was losing consciousness.

Mr. Kim didn't stop.

Kangta lost.

" _Finally, my collection is complete_."


	6. Warrior's Descendants

Leeteuk led BoA and Yunho down to his car in the parking garage below SM. He unlocked the doors, and the idols quickly dived into the car. They all collapsed in their seats, exhausted from running.

"What...was...that...about?" Yunho panted.

"I don't know, but it's clear that we're in trouble." BoA shook her head in confusion and pulled out her phone. "Also, did anyone see where Baekhyun, Taeyeon, and Onew went?"

"No, they were the first ones out," Leeteuk muttered, also pulling out his phone. "I'm going to text them and ask if they're okay."

Yunho just stared out into space. "We didn't imagine it, right? Like, is the whole SM being sold to some guy who is behind H.O.T's disappearance is something that actually happened?"

"Yup, and so were the gunshots," Leeteuk replied. "Also Yunho, do you know you're live on Instagram right now?"

TVXQ's leader looked at Super Junior's leader in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I got a notification from Donghae about you going live-oh...what am I looking at?" Yunho and BoA leaned over and saw the underside of a table. The idols were confused about what they were seeing, especially since they could only hear muffled talking.

"I dropped my phone during the meeting and got rushed out before I could pick it up," Yunho muttered, trying to understand what he was looking at. "I was trying to text Changmin about the meeting, but I guess my touch-typing skills need some work."

BoA shook her head and smiled. "No, if anything it's a good thing. Depending on when it started, a lot of people probably heard what was going on, including the shooting."

_ Kakako! _

Leeteuk backed out of watching the live and opened his notifications. "Okay, Baekhyun just replied. He said that him, Taeyeon, and Onew are fine. Apparently they didn't hear what else is going on in the building, and they're discussing what to tell their members and ex-members."

"The truth," BoA answered. "I mean, what else is there to say?"

DING!

The idols looked through Leeteuk's back window to see Mr. Kim and a couple of men coming out of the elevator dragging an unconscious Kangta behind them. The idols watched in shock as they opened the trunk of a white car and threw their friend in. "Take him straight there, you hear me? I'll be joining you after I get the rest of the paperwork." Mr. Kim spat on Kangta, then slammed the lid shut. A couple of the men got in the car, and Mr. Kim went back to the elevator.

"Where are they taking him?" Yunho whispered, wishing he had his phone with him.

"We need to follow them," BoA stated.

Leeteuk nodded, and waited until the car started pulling out and went around the corner. He turned on his car and rolled down the windows. "BoA, I'm going to need you to take notes about the car, just in case we lose it."

"Got it."

The idols slowly followed behind the car, making sure to keep some distance between them. Just when they were about to exit the garage, they saw a black car quickly make a u-turn and nearly hit them as it raced in the direction they were about to go in. Leeteuk was annoyed, but he tried to remain calm and follow after the white vehicle. Every time the white car made a turn, he felt panicked and tried to speed up. He nearly hit the black car at one point, which caused the passenger to turn around to look at them. They met eyes, and to their shock, they recognized the guy and he recognized them. The man broke out in a smile and waved at them.

"Is that Jaijin from Sechskies?" BoA asked waving back.

Leeteuk laughed. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I know who the driver is too."

The white car reached a red light an intersection away from them. As there were quite a few cars ahead of them, Leeteuk felt comfortable pulling into the lane next to the black car. Both cars rolled their windows down. Sure enough, it was Jaijin and Jiwon from Sechskies. "You chasing after Kangta too?" Yunho asked. The two older idols looked panicked. "He's really in that car?!"

The SM artists looked confused. "Yeah, isn't that why you're following it too?"

"No, we were originally heading this way because Heejun told us to stick with Kangta, so we sent Suwon and our manager, but they got in a wreck," Jiwon explained. "We decided to come down to get him, but then Myunghoon told us about a live stream that was happening and said Kangta was dragged out of the room. A bunch of us agreed that we needed to tail any car that comes out of the building."

"Boy, did we get lucky. Saving H.O.T and kicking ass is just what we needed to turn around a shitty day," Jaijin added, then looked back at the road. "Shit, the light changed, move!"

Leeteuk and Jiwon continued to follow the white car until it arrived at a private hospital. They both slowly followed it into the garage, noting that nobody was in the security booth. The SM idols watched as Jiwon turned off his lights in the garage and stopped his car. Jaijin got out holding a crowbar. The idols watched the Sechskies member disappear around the corner.

They were anxious about waiting for the man to return, but a few minutes later he jogged back into view and got into Jiwon's car. The black car sped off, and Leeteuk followed after, nervous about running into someone. They saw Jiwon get out of the car in front of the elevator, as he hadn't bothered to leave his car in a parking spot. Leeteuk figured that he did it because of the circumstances, but the Super Junior leader still parked around the corner to prevent him from blocking in the older idol's car.

The SM idols joined the Sechskies members, as they waited for the elevator to come back down. Jiwon turned to them. "They took him up to the 25th floor, so that's where we're going."

"So, what's the plan?" Yunho asked.

Jiwon just shrugged. "As Jaijin said earlier, we're going to find H.O.T and kick some ass."

BoA frowned. "That's the plan?"

"Yup."

The SM idols looked at each other, and all of them were wondering if they really should be following this guy. However, when the elevator doors opened, they got in anyway.

Nobody talked on the way up. Luckily, no one got in with them so they had an uneventful trip. When the doors opened, Jaijin poked his head out, then silently motioned for them to follow him. They clearly weren't at a public hospital, as the nurse's station was small and it didn't seem like there were a lot of patients around.

BANG!

Everyone was startled when a door opened at the end of the hallway, and a man fell out. There was blood all over his face, and he was clearly knocked out. “That’s the driver. You think those guys are double-crossing each other?” Jaijin whispered.

Jiwon pulled something out from his jacket, and rushed down the corridor with Jaijin hot on his heels, wielding a crowbar. Leeteuk, pulled both of them back around a corner, just in case things got messy. They waited for the sound of a struggle, but instead they heard the last thing they had been expecting.

"Hyung!"

The SM idols peeked around the corner and saw Jiwon hugging someone. It was H.O.T's missing maknae. He was wearing hospital pajamas and looked like he had terrible bruising on his face. Both of his hands were covered in blood, even though only his right hand had a cast on it.

"I was scared no one was going to come to rescue us!" Jaewon sobbed into the shorter idol's shoulder, as Jaijin patted his back. "It's okay Jaewon, we're here."

Leeteuk approached the emotional trio, with Yunho and BoA inching along behind him. None of them knew H.O.T's maknae well, so they were hesitant about joining the group.

"Uh, hi?" Yunho interrupted, feeling bad when the older idols jumped.

The H.O.T member pulled away from his former rivals and nodded at him. "Hi, Yunho, right? Sorry, I don't know much about TVXQ!, except from what I've heard from Heejun. He's really close with Jaejoong." Yunho nodded. "Yeah, Jae was a big fan of his." Jaewon turned his attention to BoA. "Obviously, I know you." The SM director laughed, as the H.O.T member turned to Leeteuk. "I think we've met a few times?" Super Junior's leader smiled. "I would have been the maknae if I hadn't joined SM so late." Jaewon gave him a hesitant smile. "Ah, but then you would have been in this mess with us."

Jiwon turned serious again, and pointed to the man on the ground. "Speaking of which, Jaewon, did you take this guy out?" The tall idol nodded. "I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to fight back, but then they brought Chilhyun into my room a few minutes ago, and I just kinda...got defensive of my hyung, you know?"

"Kangta's with you?" BoA asked, eager to step into see her friend.

Jaewon nodded, and led them into the room. "Hyung! People came for us!" It was a large room with five hospital beds inside, and a small connected bathroom. The SM idols and Sechskies members wrinkled their noses at the smell of blood and vomit. However, that wasn’t quite as important as the people who were in the room. 

On the left side was Woohyuk, who had a hard cast on one of his legs. He waved at them, but didn’t sit up. On the right side were Tony, Heejun, and Kangta. Heejun was asleep on one bed, and Tony was examining Kangta, who was lying on a bed close to the door. They all looked like they had been in a fight recently. Tony looked up when they entered and immediately ran over to hug Jiwon. “Is Jaeduk…?”

“He’s going to make it,” The leader of Sechskies patted the smaller man’s back, as he started sobbing. “You can see him after we get out of here.”

Jiwon pulled back and looked around the room. While everyone had been distracted by the appearance of the missing H.O.T members, they had completely ignored the nearly dozen bodies lying on the ground around the room. “What happened to these guys?”

Woohyuk smirked. “Well, you see, most of them are the thugs who abducted us. All of us have injuries because of them. Luckily, they’re just knocked out, which means I’ll get to have a crack at them when I feel better.”

“Whoever ordered for us to be brought here owns this hospital. The doctors and nurses here are sick people. Aside from hitting us and depriving Jaewon and Woohyuk of food, they also gave us meds to either knock us out, or make us feel too weak or nauseous to do anything,” Tony explained.

“So, then how did you guys take them down?” Leeteuk questioned, trying to count the bodies. “There’s a lot of people on the ground.”

Tony walked over and patted Jaewon’s back. “One of the good things about the meds is that Jaewon, Woohyuk, and I were so nauseous that we kept throwing up the next dose they tried to jam down our throats. Seeing as how Woohyuk can’t walk, they just gave him a trash can. As for us, well, they thought we were going to stay in the bathroom for a while and got distracted when Heejun came.”

“So, then when Kangta was brought in…” Yunho said, piecing it together.

“We felt good enough to come out,” Tony laughed. “But of course, our maknae saw them man-handling Chilhyun, and well, I think you can tell what happened next.”

“I’ve been boxing since my cancer surgery a few years ago, and I’m even licensed. But I never managed to seriously hurt anyone - let alone knock them out!” Jaewon beamed with pride.

A groan caused them all to jump. Heejun grabbed the back of his head, and whined in pain. “Hyung!” Jaewon called, bounding over to his leader. “Are you okay?” The oldest member of H.O.T sat up wincing, then looked around. “Jaewon?” The maknae frowned, “Of course.” When Heejun didn’t register his presence, Jiwon came over and waved his hand in his friend’s face. Although Heejun’s eyes were open and he was blinking, he didn’t react to what Jiwon was doing at all. Jaewon and Jiwon looked at each other in panic. “Jaewon?” The youngest member of H.O.T grabbed Heejun’s hand. “I’m here, hyung.” 

Everyone jumped when they heard a shout down the hall.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?”

“That’s Mr. Kim,” Leeteuk panicked, turning towards the door. “What do we do?”

“We fight,” Jiwon stated as he reached into his pocket. The SM idols were startled to see him pull out a handgun, but he ignored their surprised faces. “We’ll distract them. You guys get H.O.T out of here, okay?”

“Sure,” Yunho said, going over to figure out how he was going to carry Woohyuk. BoA went over to help Tony grab Kangta. Leeteuk quickly went to Heejun’s side, and got him to stand up. Jaewon, however, joined his former rivals. Jiwon looked at him warily. “You got some fight left in you?” H.O.T’s maknae nodded, and put his fists up.

Everyone in the room was silent and on edge. They listened as the sound of hurried footsteps got closer. Just when the tip of a leather shoe appeared in the doorway, Jaijin swung his crowbar, and a loud thud could be heard.

There was a second where nobody moved, then things kicked off. There were about half a dozen guys in the hallway. Jiwon aimed his gun at someone, but it was kicked out of his hand and the bullet struck the ceiling. That didn’t stop the idol, though, because he immediately resorted to punching his way through. Jaijin whacked a man with his crowbar, so hard, it knocked the man’s glasses off his face. Jaewon dodged a punch, and returned with his own so strong, that the man knocked two other guys down. 

“What the fuck are you doing up!?”

Jaewon looked at Mr. Kim, whose mouth was open in shock. “Let me guess, you’re the man who started this.” Jaewon stepped over the men on the floor, and approached the new owner of SM. “Turns out your goons and doctors are just as shitty at their jobs, as you are at coming up with them.” The older man took a nervous step back, and then pulled out a gun, and shot at Jaewon. Luckily, he missed and the bullet went straight into the wall. The older man then turned, and fled towards the elevator with Jaewon right behind him.

Mr. Kim took a sharp turn and started running up the stairs instead, periodically shooting in Jaewon’s direction. He probably meant to kill the idol, but was unfortunately a bad shot either because he wasn’t used to using the weapon or because he was shaking. He saw that the idol had bloody hands, and knew he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his punches.

The older man stopped at the top of the stairs and fired again. Jaewon ducked, and even though his ears were ringing, he was fine. He looked up, but the man had disappeared. As he got closer to where he last saw the man, he saw that the door’s lock had been what the man had fired at.

Jaewon swung open the door, and realized that he was on the roof of the building. For a moment, soaked in the feeling of being outside after having been cooped up for so long. But then that peace was shattered by a loud BANG!

Mr. Kim pointed a gun at Jaewon, panting from the unexpected run up five flights of stairs. “You’re a lot more resilient than I thought you’d be, I’ll give you that.” The idol stared up at the man in defiance. “Why are you doing this to us? We haven’t hurt anybody!”

The older man laughed. “It’s not about you. Listen, kid. I’m from a chaebol family - in case me having a private hospital didn’t tip you off. Let’s just say that I’m looking to bring my family down by blowing all of their cash. Even though I’m the one with the finance degree and I’ve been one of the main heads keeping track of the numbers for YEARS, I found out that I’m not going to inherit shit. My father is dying, so I decided to look at his will, and guess what I found out? I’m going to get kicked out of my position so that my younger brother can take it. I’m only going to get this damn hospital and the rest of my siblings are about to inherit everything else. To add insult to injury, I found out a few days ago that this place has a history of malpractice and has been ordered to close soon, so that leaves me with NOTHING. I’ve decided to ruin them before they can ruin ME!”

“But why did you choose us? What does H.O.T have to do with you?” Jaewon pleaded, keeping his eyes on the gun. Mr. Kim gave him a small smile. “While I was looking at which businesses to ruin, One of the stocks my family owns is in SM Entertainment, and one of my bratty nephews was about to debut. So, it seemed like a perfect fit. I arranged for the purchase of SM, and it was easier than I had expected it to be. I saw your little announcement about your comeback, and decided it would be done through you. Afterall, if it came out that SM was engaging in kidnapping and attempted murder of former idols, that would cause the stock to drop. Honestly, I never expected that it would be so easy to find people who would help me with my plan, but they did a good job at getting you all here.”

Mr. Kim’s smile dropped, and he readjusted his grip on his gun. “So, now you’ve got two choices: either you go back downstairs and sign a contract willingly, or H.O.T’s next album will only have four members after you take a tragic tumble off of the roof of my younger sister’s hotel. And make it snappy, I’ve got a few more purchases to make.”

Neither choice was what Jaewon wanted. He didn’t like this man, but he also didn’t want to die.

_ Well, I might as well go down swinging. _

Jaewon launched to his feet, and punched Mr. Kim right below the sternum. The man dropped the gun, but grabbed the idol around the middle and they both went crashing to the ground. They rolled around, punching and kicking each other, until they moved back towards the gun. Mr. Kim grabbed it, and smirked. “Say goodbye, kid.”

Jaewon closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the pain to come.

_ Click! _

_ Click! _

Jaewon opened his eyes, thinking that maybe he had died immediately. But his right hand was hurting too much for him to have passed on. Oh, and Mr. Kim was also looking pretty panicked, as he scrambled away from the downed idol, still pointing his gun at him.

_ Click! _

_ Click! _

_ Click! _

“Oh…” Jaewon whispered, feeling a bit stupid. He wasn’t dead - Mr. Kim was out of bullets. It made sense because he had probably used most of them up when he was shooting at him when they were running up the stairs. But that didn’t stop the tall idol from being angry.

“YOU ASSHOLE!”

Mr. Kim looked up with a panicked expression on his face as Jaewon stormed towards him, ready to knock his lights out. But the older man dodged the blow, and the idol stumbled on. Before he could turn around, the older man was throwing punches at him, and all he could do was block and try to back up.

Jaewon’s foot hit the edge of a low wall, and he realized that he was about to fall off. He noticed that Mr. Kim was starting to slow down and was breathing heavily, so the idol saw his chance and pushed him strongly. He went to run past the man, but he was grabbed by the back of his pajama top and stumbled back.

“JAEWON!”

The idol felt his stomach drop as he fell backward. He saw Mr. Kim’s shocked face, then the night sky as his back bent towards the abyss behind him.

Jaewon felt his head snap back as his fall was stalled by a tug on his pajama shirt. He heard strangled yell from Mr. Kim, then he was yanked forward. He collided with something firm. It was then that he realized there were arms wrapping around him and he recognized the smell of cologne.

“Hyung?” Jaewon whispered, as he shakily returned the hug.

“I’ve got you, dongsaeng.”

Jaewon crumbled and started to cry when he realized that Kangta had saved his life. He sobbed into the older man’s arms, as sounds of yelling and footsteps approaching could be heard. Both idols were startled when they felt more people join their hug. They looked up to see Woohyuk, Tony, and Heejun holding them tightly.

"Jaewon, you're a fool you know that?" Woohyuk muttered with tears in his eyes. "Never go charging into danger like that ever again, you understand?"

H.O.T's maknae nodded, sniffling. "Only if you stay with me."

"Promise."

Kangta looked up to see Yunho and Leeteuk leading police officers through the door. A few feet away, Jiwon and Jaijin had Mr. Kim pinned to the ground. And as for BoA, she was smiling at something on her phone. The vocalist turned back to his battered band mates and felt whole for the first time since their last meal together.

* * *

Eventually, H.O.T followed the police officers and fellow idols down to the entrance of the building. While they had expected cop cars and ambulances to be there, that wasn't all that was waiting for them. They felt weak when they saw a sea of people wearing white ponchos. White Angels had come to see their idols themselves. They chanted their names while keeping the press from overwhelming the members as they were loaded into ambulances. The white sea parted again and allowed the emergency vehicles to spirit away the men.

That wasn't the end of the love they received, but the beginning. BoA had taken a picture of the group hug on the roof and posted it on Instagram and Twitter, which caused a huge swell of support for the members as they recovered. Their social media and email accounts were constantly being bombarded by people wanting to hear the whole story. Many variety shows demanded that they make an appearance as soon as they could. The members uploaded pictures frequently showing their recovery. Friends and family stopped by frequently with food.

Tony was the first to be released from the hospital after a few hours, as he had only sustained a minor concussion and bruising. However, he stayed to check up on the other members and Jaeduk, who had finally woken up and sobbed upon seeing his soulmate. Next to be released was Jaewon, as he had broken his right hand, but was mostly suffering from exhaustion. Like Tony, he stayed at the hospital anyway. Kangta sustained a minor concussion, but due to how he was choked by Mr. Kim, his vocal cords were damaged and would take a while to heal. Luckily, his doctor said that the damage wouldn't be permanent and he would be back to singing in a few months. Due to the fall Heejun had endured, he had hit his head hard enough for him to lose his sight. Like Kangta's affliction, it wasn't a permanent medical issue and he was able to see again after a few days. Although, headaches persisted for weeks. As for Woohyuk, he had a broken leg that needed surgery to fix what the doctor at the private hospital had messed up. Unfortunately, he would need extensive recovery time and physical therapy before he could even dream of dancing again.

Sechskies visited with them frequently, and they all cracked up when they heard that the police had assumed Jiwon's gun to be Mr. Kim's. Although the idol was upset at the loss of his weapon, everyone was relieved that he avoided getting in trouble for owning one in the first place. After the initial investigation wrapped up, Sechskies (mainly Jaeduk) hounded the H.O.T members to do a collaboration.

As for Mr. Kim, him and his cronies (including the complicit staff at his hospital) were all arrested and received multiple charges. While attempted murder and assault were bad on their own, it was really the firearm possession, fraud, and license plate forgery that really added to the charges. As it turns out, Mr. Kim wasn't as smart as he had thought he was. He thought that it would be impossible for the cops to find their cars if they all used the same counterfeit license plate. H.O.T were both amused and annoyed when they found out that the criminal had chosen _9696_ not because of the cab Jaewon had taken the night he had been abducted, but because that was when Mr. Kim thought their debut date was. He was off by one day, as they had debuted on September 7th - not the sixth.

SM Entertainment, meanwhile, tried to pretend like nothing had happened. From the sale to the deaths that occurred in the building, they squashed all attempts of the story being spread. However, there was one notable change that came from it. The day after he had been released from the hospital, Kangta had turned in his resignation as both director and artist. Multiple executives tried to get him to change his mind, but he refused. Instead, he told them to send him a bill for the penalty of breaking his contract, and left to pack up his office. Kangta had one more box to go when Lee Sooman came in.

"Chilhyun, please reconsider."

Kangta ignored the man, so he pleaded again. "You've been here for 25 years, you can't go. Everything is okay now, there's no reason to throw away a perfectly fine career." The idol turned to the man who had been his boss for over two decades. "I haven't thrown anything away - you have. You were ready to throw away the company you built for the sake of money," Kangta rasped, still not used to talking. "I don't know what's gotten into you for you to think it was okay to sign over the company to a complete stranger right after meeting them, but I'm not going to stick around the next time it happens." Kangta opened his desk drawers one more time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

"Chilhyun, it was just a small lapse of judgement-"

"That's not 'a small lapse of judgement', and you know what else wasn't? Your decision to let H.O.T break up in the first place," Kangta snapped, as he slammed the drawers shut.

"Chilhyun-"

"Don't call me that. You've lost that right."

"Okay, Kangta, please-!"

"I've found a future, that's without your love~" Kangta whisper-sang mockingly.

The founder of SM Entertainment chased after the idol, who ignored his pleading and fake tears.

Kangta was relieved when he finally got to the lobby, as he was a few steps away from freedom. To his surprise, every idol who was still with SM was waiting for him. He wasn't close with all of them, but he had a feeling that they were curious about what he had gone through after hearing so much about it second-hand. BoA approached him. "Give me hug, loser." He put the box on the ground and hugged her. "I can come by and see you, right?" she whispered. Kangta pulled away and nodded. He looked around the lobby, and it felt like everybody was waiting for him to say something.

The former SM idol leaned over to his friend and whispered, "Tell them that they are welcome to say hi to me anytime, and that I'm sorry things had to end like this." BoA repeated his words. "What are you going to do next, the H.O.T album?" Leeteuk asked. Kangta nodded. "'Warrior's Descendant' is my top priority right now. The members and I decided that it will be our magnam opus. We're getting older, and we know that we won't be able to be idols forever. Since it was the song that changed Korea, we wanted to revisit the title itself and use it to create a new anthem to encourage those who came after us and were fans of us. This album is our request for you all to take up our torch. If you can speak out and use your art to change Korea and the world for the better, then you will have fulfilled our last wish as H.O.T. Thank you." He gave a short bow, as BoA relayed his words tearfully. Then, he picked up his box and left SM Entertainment forever.

For the last few years, no one had been eagerly awaiting his appearance like when he was younger. However, he was delighted to see so many people holding H.O.T light sticks and wishing him well. He had a small smile on his face as he approached his van. Tony threw open the door and grabbed the box from his hands. Kangta closed the door and found his seat. "You okay?" Heejun asked seriously. Kangta nodded, and put on his seat belt.

"What now?" Woohyuk asked, as their new group manager drove away from the crowd.

Jaewon smiled, "We enjoy our time as H.O.T from now to eternity."

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I'm writing this so I can practice writing a short thriller. I appreciate any feedback for this.


End file.
